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My Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath Number

Time for a little frivolity in the New Year! I recently found out about the Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath project. I am sure most of you have heard of the Bacon number. You may also know about the Erdos number which is similar except it deals with whether you have co-authored a paper with someone who co-authored a paper, with someone who co authoered with the mathematician Paul Erdos. And then there is the Sabbath number which is much the same but uses members of Black Sabbath. Some people have Erdos-Bacon numbers, but very few (apparently) have Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath numbers.

Well I am here to tell the world that I am one of them!

Erdos Number- I recently co-authored a paper with Pete Mandik (Erdos #=6) which puts me at 7 (incidentally we will be presenting it at the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology in February, and it will be forthcoming in Philosophical Topics).

I think that is pretty good but for the picky there is an alternate, perhaps more embarrassing, route. Some of you may know that my wife and I appeared in episode 2 of Fly Girls (Jen’s sister Farrah Williams was one of the Fly Girls). In that episode Sir Richard Branson himself had a cameo, and his Bacon number is 2, which would put mine at 3. In what follows I’ll use 2 unless someone objects.

Sadly no recordings from that era exist (to my knowledge), and it would be nice to have it all based on recordings. And there is a longer route that is based on recordings. Way back in the old days I played with Jonathan Boyle in Cannibalistic Mutilation. Jonathan played in Charlie Christ with Erik Lindmark. Erik is the founding member of Deeds of Flesh (actually I once tried out for Deeds of Flesh and so have played with Erik but since there is no recording I am not counting that), which now has Erlend Caspersen on bass. Erlend has done session work with Decrepit Birth , which now has Derek Boyer on bass, and who has a Sabbath number of 11. That would put my Sabbath number at 15.

Adding it all up I get an EBS of 7+2+8=17 (or 24 for the death metal route). Same as Thomas Edison!

Plus anyone involved in the New York Consciousness Collective now has a Sabbath number of 9 (or 16) and if they already have an Erdos-Bacon number they’re in! For instance, I know David Chalmers has an Erdos number of 5, and if the Morgan Freeman connection works, a Bacon number of 2, which would give him an EBS number of 16. One better than mine! Now if only my co-authors/bandmates Pete Mandik (from whom I get my Erdos number) and Hakwan Lau (Erdos number 8 because of our co-authored paper) had a Bacon number! Anyone know of anyone else, or better connections?